The new news 24 thread

[brownnova]

This week I was teaching a particular reading skill… I can choose my own content for this.

So I chose the story about the man who drove his Frontera up Snowdon. 

 

[Lacquer Peel]

Final trip in the Big Benz 

[cort16]

3 hours ago, brownnova said:

This week I was teaching a particular reading skill… I can choose my own content for this.

So I chose the story about the man who drove his Frontera up Snowdon. 

 

And he did it twice

[stripped fred]

I keep meaning to mention my new car, a 2006 Subaru Legacy 2.0 GT Spec B. I bought it off someone I know, who became nervous about owning a rare car and bought a Tesla model Y.

It was imported in 2021 and is the 2.0 turbo engine. Auto gearbox and about 256bhp. It's done 81k.

It's SORN at the moment.  There are a few things to sort. It had a new radiator fitted by a local garage, with experience of Subarus, but I think the coolant is still going down. I don't think head gasket problems but me and my son will pressure test it and do a few other checks.

It's got a Japanese sat nav that is not plugged in as it doesn't work in the UK, so I'll be changing that for a cubby, android screen, or maybe some extra gauges.

I'm not sure about the Japanese shaped plate. I might change it for a normal shaped one as I like to be discreet.

I only drove it for about 10 miles. It seems to pick up it's skirt when it needs to. The brakes seemed good. The ride seemed stiff but not uncomfortable with it's Bilstein dampers. The engine sounded good.

I am justifying having it as it's different, interesting engineering (which brings it's own problems too!), it's practical, and I won't be doing more than a few thousand miles in it so fuel costs hopefully won't hurt too much. My son is also very good with cars and keen to try new jobs. He changed the rear wheel bearing on my mk1 TT today, without any help.

Luckily it seems pretty well cared for although there is no no Japanese service history. I think it could do with a service as the oil cap was so stiff it didn't seem like it had been checked recently, but the il level was ok.

It seems tidy and non rusty underneath. It has it's MOT soon so I will find out more then.

Makes a change from a Jaguar S Type, which fits my image more as a soon to be 55 year old male. I hope the Subaru can prove itself on the longer journeys as well as some twisty roads. i am planning a 1000 mile road trip from the midlands into Scotland next year.

[IronStar]

On 17/10/2025 at 19:04, wesacosa said:

Paid a visit to the Red history museum in Dubrovnik. 

My Bosnian friend tells me that OS number on the Yugo is from a Northern region of Yugoslavia which was very heavily hit so doubly amazing it seems to have survived in tact 

I always assumed Tomos were Czechoslovakian 

Random trivia:

Osijek is a home to a “Fico drives over a tank” monument, which is inverse of one of the events that kicked off the war in Yugoslavia, when tank drove over a car that was trying to stop their advance

Kopar, where Tomos was made, was also home to CIMOS (short for Citroen, ISKRA, Tomos), a joint venture that was making Citroens in Yugoslavia under license. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Two-and-a-bit years after buying it through an ad here on AS the Carina E has driven out of my life, to become the new owner's daily driver.

Oh, hang on. Making for a nice period scene there's a Rover 620 following it.

Funds paid on the new car, needs a bit of a clean-up and some work doing before I take ownership.......

[Lacquer Peel]

12 hours ago, brownnova said:

This week I was teaching a particular reading skill… I can choose my own content for this.

So I chose the story about the man who drove his Frontera up Snowdon.

 

Love this, what's your role?

[crad]

corolla's headlight glass was pretty much separate from the plastic unit- to stop it flying out on the m4 some sealant was applied. not pretty, but effective. it somehow keeps on chugging along.

[Marina door handles]

19 hours ago, brownnova said:

This week I was teaching a particular reading skill… I can choose my own content for this.

So I chose the story about the man who drove his Frontera up Snowdon. 

 

I do hope that with Vauxhall launching a new Fontera, they do a "Snowdon edition" in honour of this car....

[Marina door handles]

Whilst trying to sell the Forester and having put the Freelander back into service, I have run out of space on the drive, so the XK is now tucked up in the garage. I hope it doesn't get to comfortable in there!

 

 

[comfortablynumb]

I can see your floor!!!

Which is more than I can in my barn...🥺

[nomiST]

9 hours ago, IronStar said:

Kopar, where Tomos was made, was also home to CIMOS (short for Citroen, ISKRA, Tomos), a joint venture that was making Citroens in Yugoslavia under license. 

Was the Axel the result of that?

[catsinthewelder]

30 minutes ago, nomiST said:

Was the Axel the result of that?

That was Oltcit in Romania

[cort16]

22 hours ago, brownnova said:

This week I was teaching a particular reading skill… I can choose my own content for this.

So I chose the story about the man who drove his Frontera up Snowdon. 

 

Did you see this is how they got it down?

[comfortablynumb]

I wondered about that, at one point apparently they were going to chop it up and bring it down in pieces 😱

[IronStar]

1 hour ago, nomiST said:

Was the Axel the result of that?

No, but CIMOS DAK / Geri is

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimos_DAK_/_Geri
 

It was supposedly so much better than then-current Arcadiane, that Citroen threw the toys out of the pram. They banned CIMOS from exporting it, stopped the delivery of CKD kits, canceled the contract with CIMOS and developed C15 in response. 

[Angrydicky]

10 hours ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Two-and-a-bit years after buying it through an ad here on AS the Carina E has driven out of my life, to become the new owner's daily driver.

Oh, hang on. Making for a nice period scene there's a Rover 620 following it.

Funds paid on the new car, needs a bit of a clean-up and some work doing before I take ownership.......

My best mate is over the moon with the Carina and he intends to maintain it and keep it going as long as possible. He finds it exceptionally comfortable compared to his very unreliable and expensive ‘18 Micra he’s just got shot of, with nice soft seats instead of the rock hard ones in the Nissan, great visibility with its skinny pillars, plus with its nice basic controls and quality feel it’s just a lovely place to be. Very spacious inside and yet compact outside- despite being an estate it was parked next to a modern Toyota hatch in his car park today and it was about the same length but shorter and narrower.

He doesn’t change his cars very often at all, this is only the third car he’s ever owned and is the first one he cares about. He really likes it and says he is going to try to keep it nice. I will help him and in preparation we have been and bought him some tools today.

Basically while his Micra was backwards and fowards to the dealer with a myriad of electrical faults, I leant him my Rover and he really liked it, in fact he liked it so much he decided he wanted something older, and I steered him towards something Japanese for reliability.

Got it home to St.Ives with no drama at all, a very easy and comfortable drive home as you’d expect.

Put the other trims on because they looked a bit more period, figured out the interesting fog light switch and checked and topped up the tyre pressures and the levels under the bonnet. It’s a really nice car to drive and I was quite impressed when I had a go.

Front number plate needs fitting properly as it’s currently held on with cable ties following an incident while SLs daughter was driving, which snapped both captive nuts. I’ve ordered some new ones on eBay. We did try new batteries in both remote fobs but no joy, there is a company in Leicester that did a good job of repairing the fob on my Rover but he seems happy to just stick the key in the door.

Will give it an oil and filter change soon as it’s just about due but the rest of it all looks good as SL had a full service done about 9k ago. I will show Marcus how to do this as he’s never actually done one before, he’s keen to learn though.

Its been very well looked after throughout its life, really tidy inside and out and a great big folder of history which is really nice to have.

Here it is in its new home.

Thanks again to SL for offering the Carina to me first before advertising it elsewhere, it was a pleasure to see you again Nigel and thanks for showing me the Laurel and the magazine collection (which is very impressive).

[stuboy]

9 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

and the magazine collection (which is very impressive).

playboy 1962 to 1987..?

[SiC]

Doing my job of facilitating my colleagues to make poor automotive life choices...

My colleague is more into motorbikes and restoring them. He usually uses his early 90s Honda Dakar bike (replacing one that was a few years old that was boring to him) but has a modern car for when he wants a tad more comfort. He recently had a LR Freelander 2 but that snapped exhaust manifold studs (apparently tadis) and was quoted by a specialist £1200 minimum and might be more if they are seized requiring the block removing. Previously to that he had a X5 for a week that was a disaster which replaced his 60s F100 truck.

Anyway he loves Alfa's having had 2 previous GTVs and a 156. He thoroughly regrets selling his last GTV. So naturally wanting something he knew and loved, he was on a hunt for one. They're a lot thinner on the ground than they used to be and had to travel far to see any.

After a mix of turds, others getting in sooner and struggling to find one, he found one local to us that is a bit of a project. It was on an Alfa forum and neither him or the seller had enough posts to talk to each other. With a bit of sluthing on Google earth, we figured from the village location where they were.

So this afternoon we rocked up and knocked on the door.

The story is that the idle control valve is faulty and keeps cutting out at idle. Their local garage diagnosed it but couldn't find a replacement. Presumably they didn't want to spend hours hunting online either. The chap was an accountant and not mechanically inclined at all.

Unfortunately while using the car, it cut out at a junction and he lost brake boost - presumably using the brakes too much with no engine running as he coasted. The resulting factor was that he impacted the back of another car in the front right.

£550 later it was my colleagues.

You can see the damaged bonnet and bumper. What I didn't know is that the bonnets are fibreglass out the factory. With a bit of brute force, I popped the bits around the light back into position. Tbh I think it could do with a new bonnet at least.
(Also the sky suddenly went orange as the sunset - hence the weird colours)

 

I didn't take any other photos but the interior is absolutely immaculate. The passenger seat doesn't even look like someone ever has sat in it.

Apart from the idle control valve, the throttle position sensor is missing it's cover. I do wonder if that might be giving duff readings which is leaving the ECU not aware that it's in an idle position. To get it home I wound up the throttle stop to keep the throttle body open and thus a high idle. Revs were bouncing about a bit as the ECU must be confused about the open flap and possibly the ICV is sticky.

Other things it needs is a new headlight but they're cheap second hand. Also the central locking doesn't work and there is no alarm fob. The passenger side door lock is a different key too. 

Belts squeal - we think some pulleys. It's had a new air con compressor last year (air con works!) and a new belt by the looks of it. So possibly that caused more load on the pulleys and they're now protesting. Cambelt has no record and these are prone to snapping at low mileage (like 36k recommended nowadays). Hence my colleague is going to get that done asap.

Apart from that, just a good routine maintenance with coolant + brake fluid + oils. Inside is lovely, rest of the paint is good and the alloys aren't really marked. Tyres are 12yrs old but not cracked and premium brands. Fronts need replacing very soon though.

Basically it's a car that needs some love however has 'good bones'.

Does anyone have any sources of Alfa breakers that might have a bonnet, bumper and throttle body assembly? Ideally colour matched but not end of the world if not as he'll get it sprayed.

[Popsicle]

New rubbers fitted on the couriering caddy today, cheap Goodyear Vector 4seasons Gen3, from Costco again.

Date code of 3625 which, according to Google, is the 1st to the 7th of September, I don't think I've ever had such factory fresh tyres before. I did notice the new ones are made in Slovenia, I had a set of the same tyres in 2023, they were made in France, hopefully the Slovenian ones last as well as the French ones as I got over 100k miles out of the froggys.

Also new wiper blades, I'm being very decadent these days. The box they arrived in would have fitted about 50 pairs of wiper blades in! At £16 posted from Valeo it seemed nice and cheap. I always used to prefer the Bosch aero's but I find them smearing and juddering after a couple of months, at least the Valeo ones last me about a year.

 

 

[stuboy]

Some nice classic cats at the pub today despite the crap weather

[loserone]

36 minutes ago, stuboy said:

Some nice classic cats

 

[richardmorris]

Nice lancia.

[Spottedlaurel]

11 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

My best mate is over the moon with the Carina..........

I'm super pleased Marcus is happy with it!

It did a great job for us in its time here, sounds like it will continue to do the same for him. And I'm pleased you're able to assist and point him in the right direction as necessary.

[lesapandre]

'All the news that's fit to print...'

"The Guardian view on hybrid cars: profitable for carmakers but not very green"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/19/the-guardian-view-on-hybrid-cars-profitable-for-carmakers-but-not-very-green

Worth a read if you like that sort of thing - the reader comments are particularly bizarre.

[brownnova]

21 hours ago, Lacquer Peel said:

Love this, what's your role?

I teach secondary. This was part of teaching GCSE English! 

15 hours ago, Marina door handles said:

I do hope that with Vauxhall launching a new Fontera, they do a "Snowdon edition" in honour of this car....

I think they missed a trick not launching the new model at the top of Snowdon! 

11 hours ago, cort16 said:

Did you see this is how they got it down?

This was all part of the lesson… comparing the first and second attempts! 

[reb]

Behold, a shitty little cupboard my new office!

[High Jetter]

13 minutes ago, reb said:

Behold, a shitty little cupboard my new office!

Is the window behind you? 🤣

[reb]

Just now, High Jetter said:

Is the window behind you? 🤣

Long story, but I ended up with the one of the two that doesn't have a window. I'm actually not at all bothered really, means I don't have to deal with sunlight reflecting off of my monitors or fucking up the lighting if I'm filming with the greenscreen!

[High Jetter]

I kinda guessed that, looking at the vent. Hope it works out for you, and the divide between home and work helps your productivity as well as sanity.